Disability groups say the event is an attempt to whitewash the Conservative administration’s “disastrous” legacy of cuts
The UK government has been accused of hypocrisy for hosting a global summit for disabled people.
Disability groups say the event is an attempt to whitewash the Conservative administration’s “disastrous” legacy of cuts.
Disabled people have been among the principal victims of Tory austerity – with even the United Nations (UN) condemning their treatment as a human rights abuse.
Despite this, the Westminster government is hosting the first global disability summit, co-hosted with the International Disability Alliance in London on Tuesday (24 July).
Charities, state bodies and the private sector will be asked to support a charter for change endorsing rights, dignity and inclusion for people with disabilities.
However, Dr Sally Witcher, chief executive of Inclusion Scotland, said the event is a “blatant attempt to divert attention” from the Tories’ “disastrous record on human rights and the damage their policies have inflicted on UK disabled people.”
She said: “The UK government is fooling no-one. The Chair of the UN Committee on the Rights of Disabled People branded the UK Government’s record “a human catastrophe”.
“Rather than urging others to sign a charter for change, they might like to consider accepting the verdict of the UN on their woeful performance.
“The UK government should stop lecturing to the world and start sorting out its own backyard. Its credibility on disabled people's human rights is non-existent”.
The Disabled People Against Cuts campaign group also condemned the Tories’ involvement with the summit.
A spokesperson said: “The UK government has been found responsible for grave and systematic violations of disabled people’s rights due to welfare reform and continues to dismiss the findings and expertise of the UN disability committee.
“Their involvement undermines any aims of the summit linked to strengthening deaf and disabled people’s rights under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities and provides a platform for them to showcase to other states how it is possible to get away with ignoring those rights when it comes to your own citizens.
The group stated that the UK government has used international work to “cynically” deflect from criticisms of their disability record.
The spokesman added: “In deflecting attention from their record in the UK, the government clearly intend to more easily continue their punitive policies targeted at disabled people and the poorest members of society.
“There is now overwhelming evidence, evidence which the UN disability committee considered, that prove the brutal impacts of these policies. It would be a betrayal to all those suffering under them not to raise concerns about attempts such as use of the global summit to divert attention and opposition to those policies.”
Opening the summit, Penny Mordaunt, secretary of state for international development, said: “Empowering people with disabilities does not just affect the individuals – it leads to better decisions and more effective outcomes for communities, for nations and for the world.
“Unless every one of our citizens can reach their full potential our nations never will. Let today be the start of our journey.”
